Mesquite Smoked Texas Red Chili

[Habanero Smoker]

What I have seen is you have Chili or you have Chili with beans. They are both good.
MMMMMMMM Chili. Smoken hot Chili.

What I have seen is you have chili, or you have chili with meat. ;D Both are good, but one is better then the other. :)

Or you could have chili with meat and beans :D

My view is chili is beans, the meat is just a filler. ;)

[Ka Honu]

... chili is beans, the meat is just a filler. ;)

Blasphemy! I'm surprised the profanity Gods allowed that comment on the site, even if said in jest.

[ExpatCanadian]

Ha ha ha...  loving this.  Something I've taken for granted my whole life: Chili my Mom made HAD to have the bright red kidney beans staring up at me...  I used to pick them out as a kid, I hated them.  Now I put in EXTRA!!! Go figure.

Caneyscud, my wife does the same as yours...  grated cheddar cheese and a whole load of sour cream on hers...  but....

.... secretly I like it too now!  8) <--- that's me in disguise around here from now on  :D

[OU812]

It must be a wife thing "Cheddar cheese and sour cream" She also puts a bowl of Frito's and a spoon of chili. Calls it Chili Frito Lay Go figure ???

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM Beans.

[IKnowWood]

OU812  That is called a Frito Pie.  At many dives in New Mexico its on the Menu.  Its Red Chili with beans & cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and Fritos.  The lettuce and tomatoes are on the side.  Some Fritos are tossed in and the rest layered on top.

[OU812]

Well what do you no, a "Frito Pie". I will have to tell her about this one.

I just thought she was trying to cover up all the spices with the Frito's, cheese and sour cream.

[Caneyscud]

Take a little time out of your busy day - take some time and develop a little caring attitude toward your fellow human beings.  Not all are perfect, some have a harder time with life's decisions than others do.  Step into their life a little, know what their struggles are, get to know them, feel their pain, show them that you care - develop some empathy.  To help - to jolt you into the reality of their lives, let's peak into the latest Chiliaholics Anonymous meeting.  Shhhh - they are already in progress

........recover from bastardized chili. The only requirement for membership is a desire to make chili the way it is supposed to be made. There are no dues or fees for C.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions.  Our primary purpose is to stay true to true chilis and help other chili cooks to achieve chili stardom.

Leader:  Now, let us review the 12 Steps

All:  The Twelve Steps

     1. We admit we were powerless over chili.
     2. We have come to believe that knowing proper chili can restore us to sanity.
     3. We have made a conscience decision to turn our attention to cooking better chili.
     4. We have made a search of our pantries and purged them of offending ingredients - mainly beans.
     5. We have admitted to ourselves and to others the wrongs the world has perpetrated in the name of chili.
     6. We are entirely ready to correct these wrongs in ourselves and others.
     7. We humbly ask all we have offended with "bad" chili to forgive us.
     8. We have made a list of all persons we have offended and became willing to serve them real chili
     9. We will make pots of chili for such people wherever possible, except when to do so would cause them harmful heartburn.
    10. We will continue to take inventory of our cookbooks and recipes and promptly destroy all reference to "bad" chili.
    11. We will seek through sheer willpower to carry out, to the best of our ability, the conversion of people ignorant of real chili
    12. Having had an awakening to the dangers of bad chili, we will carry this message to all peoples -  "Be at one with your Chili!"

Leader:  Now for share time - Who wants to be first - Step up to the podium

Caneyscud:  Hi, my name is Caneyscud

All:  Hi Caneyscud

Caneyscud:  I am a Chiliaholic!

All:  (Clapping and cheering) You go man.....We feel your pain....Tell it like it is.......

Caneyscud:  I cook real chili

All:  (Lots of clapping, hooting, and boot stomping)

Caneyscud:  I don't adulterate real chili with things that don't belong.

All:  (Now an ear shattering standing ovation)

Caneyscud:  But I have to confess two failings.

All:  (near silence) (in a hushed, serious tone) Bring it on Brotha'

Caneyscud:  I have failed in my duty as the man of the house - my wife likes her chili thick, and puts cheese and sour cream on her bowl of chili (sniff, sniff)

All:  (momentary hushed silence while that sinks in and then a slow shaking of drooped heads)  We feel your pain.  You are powerless against this force.  You are 53 years old - you should know the fallacy perpetrated by our forefathers about being "the man of the house."  No man is - that state of matter does not exist in this universe!  Females have horrendous all-encompassing powers over mere mortal men.  IT ISN"T YOUR FAULT!!

Caneyscud:  (Now sobbing uncontrollably) but....but....but....that isn't all.  

All:  (Hushed - silence enough to hear a pin drop - leaning forward to be sure to hear it all)

Caneyscud:  I....I.....errrr....I.....ummmmm (clearing throat)

All:  Let it out, let it out - free yourself from your baggage.

Caneyscud:  I..... I.... (in a barely audible whisper) I like cheese on my chili also

All:  Huh?  We can't hear you - Let it out man!  Quit holding it in - cure yourself, unburden your soul!

Caneyscud:  I like cheese on my chili - and a little onion and jalapenos!

All:  GASP!!!!!

Caneyscud:  Yes, I have failed, I have failed to fulfill our pledge, have failed to be a real man - a real man who likes real chili - I am ashamed!!!

All:  (stunned silence)

(continued on next post)

[Caneyscud]

Caneyscud:  (now with tears streaming down, head hanging low)  I am so ashamed, (sob, sob) I don't know what has gotten into me.  I'm a big guy, I'm a strong guy, raised by a great family with the knowledge of great chili.  What happened!  It just started with one try - I didn't think anything about it at the time.  Some cheese fell off my taco, into my bowl of Texas Red.  (sniff, sniff) I was lazy and did not fish it out.  Convinced myself, that just this one time I can fight it, I am stronger than cheese.  (Sob, blowing nose on a bandana)  I found out I wasn't strong enough to resist!  I fell into the spell of all that gooey, stringy, orange colored goodness.  (now crying like a baby)  Forgive me  (more crying) Help me--- help me to become a real man again.  At least I didn't do sour cream or .....or..... or....I'm scared.....do I dare say the words.........beans.

All:  (another big gasp, and another stunned silence - that is until two recovering CA members fell out and had to be put on an ambulance - overcome with painful emotion)

Caneyscud:  What can I do?

Leader:  I speak for all here.  The cheese thing is forgivable and with dogged determination can be overcome, but officially, we don't see the reason why.  Although not original, and not the "real' cowboy way, cheese is just an embellishment, not an abomination - the same goes for onions and jalapenos.  But I have to admit, we all sighed a collective sigh of relief when you said you didn't do sour cream or that four letter word - we don't allow it to be said in our meetings.  Too much pain, too much guilt, you can come back from sour cream, but not many have come back from b--ns without shock treatments.  Shock treatments are sad, because, yes you do forget about b--ns, but then you also forget about some of the real joys in life such as brisket, mesquite smoke, wurst, smokey ribs, fatties, but most shocking even beer!

All:  (reverential and soul-searching silence)

Caneyscud:  I swear from the top of my gray head, to the tip of my gnarled thick,yellow nailed toes - I swear to never let chili and b--ns come together in the same pot!

All:  (Wild clapping and slaps on the backs) Hoo Rah

Leader:  Now as we finish up our meeting lets us take a moment of silence to remember the two that had to be taken to the hospital at the mere mention of the four-letter word.

All:  (silence)

Leader:  As always at the close of the meeting - lets us recited the C.A. Motto - so that it can be fresh on our minds as we go through those doors into the cruel, real world, the world that wants b--ns and greek seasonings in chili

All:  (solemnly) Life is too short for bland meals.  One thing you won't find on our tables is bland!  Chili is not so much food as a state of mind.  Addictions to real chili are formed early in life and the victims, thankfully, never recover.  The aroma of good chili should generate rapture akin to a lover's kiss.  Next to music there is nothing that lifts the spirits and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of real chili.  It can only truly be real chili if it walks the thin line just this side of indigestibility:  Damning the mouth that eats it and defying the stomach to digest it.  Some say to be wary of the passion inspired by chile peppers.  Some say it is the "Soup of the Devil."   It is not - it is far more than than.  Yet, it is not something to trifle with - to desecrate.   It is good solid AMERICAN food, born in the pots of our Texan forefathers.  To hell with the saying "Flavor before Fire!"  If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.  Be at one with your chili.  If you are what you eat, and you eat real chili, you are awesome.

[Caneyscud]

Well what do you no, a "Frito Pie". I will have to tell her about this one.

I just thought she was trying to cover up all the spices with the Frito's, cheese and sour cream.

It's a staple at every high school football game in Texas! 

[OU812]

Well what do you no, a "Frito Pie". I will have to tell her about this one.

I just thought she was trying to cover up all the spices with the Frito's, cheese and sour cream.

It's a staple at every high school football game in Texas! 

Now what realy is "Real Chili"  ;D